EEL News Service 2010/2, 11 March 2010

The European Court of Justice has declared that Italy has breached Directive 2006/12/EC during the 2007 waste crisis in Naples in the Campania region. In 1997 the Italian government opted for the establishment of a regional waste management but it failed to put this into place. In reply to the formal notice sent by the Commission, the Italian authorities acknowledge that and describe the situation as a “widespread phenomenon in Campania run by sectors of organized crime”. The Court concluded that Italy has failed to establish a self sufficient “integrated and adequate” waste management network of disposal installations within the meaning of Article 7 of the Directive.

The European Court of Justice has declared that the United Kingdom has failed to transpose Directive 2006/21/EC on the management of waste from extractive industries into its national system before the deadline of 1 May 2008 pursuant to Article 25 of the Directive. Consequently, the Court ordered the UK to pay the costs.

The European Commission has lodged an appeal against the judgment delivered by the Court of First Instance on 23 September 2009 in which the General Court annulled two Commission decisions on National Action Plans (NAPs) under Directive 2003/87/EC (EU ETS). The two decisions concerned the Polish and Estonian NAPs for the period 2008-2012 which according to the Commission failed to meet the criteria under the EU trading scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowances and that the total amount of allowances should be reduced. The Commission has put forward four pleas against the annulment decision of the Court. The pleas referred to a procedural infringement, a breach of Article 9 of Directive 2003/87/EC regarding greenhouse gas emission allowance, a misinterpretation of the obligation to reason a decision within the meaning of Article 296 TFEU, and an error in law in ruling that the decision was invalid in its entirety.

The European Court of Justice has dismissed the second legal challenge launched by the steel giant company ArcelorMittal against Directive 2003/87/EC. The company had already lost a similar case before the ECJ in 2008 when the Court rejected the company’s claim that the EU ETS discriminates against steelmakers. In the second challenge, the steel company brought an application for a partial annulment on the rules governing the EU ETS and an application for compensation for the damage suffered by the company due to the EU ETS rules. The company argued that the EU ETS rules breached several principles of Community law, namely the right of property, the principle of equal treatment and the freedom of establishment. The company also argued that the EU ETS rules are not sufficiently clear thus causing the company financial losses due to the impossibility to plan its economic decisions. To this, the Court declared that the contested EU ETS rules cannot contain provisions governing the extent of the financial consequences since that is determined exclusively by the market forces. The Court found that the applicant is not individually or directly concerned by the contested provision within the meaning of article 230(4) EC and therefore declared its application for annulment as inadmissible. Furthermore, the Court rejected as unfounded the pleas of illegality alleging the breach of the principles above by Directive 2003/87/EC.

The European Commission has approved the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) potato Amflora into the EU for industrial use as well as for feed purposes. The Commission justified its decision based on a “considerable amount of sound scientific work” whereby it found that “potato is by nature a crop that poses little risk of spreading into the environment or of transferring its genes to other plants”. The GM potato is the second crop to be allowed for cultivation in the EU after the GM maize MON810.

On 23 February 2010The Commission adopted an amendment to Directive 2000/53/EC on the end-of-life vehicles (ELV). The amendment concerns rules that extend the exemption from a ban on heavy metals for certain uses of lead in vehicle components. Based on this decision, five lead-containing materials and components will continue to be temporarily exempted and another five indefinitely. One of the indefinite exemptions will be reviewed in 2012 while the other four will be reviewed in 2014.

During a ministerial meeting hosted by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River the representatives of the Danube basin countries in the EU, together with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine and the European Commission, have adopted a management plan for the sustainable future of the Danube waters. The plan aims to improve the ecological status of the river through concrete measures to be implemented by 2015. The measures include the reduction of organic and nutrient pollution, improvements to urban wastewater systems and the introduction of phosphate-free detergents. The ministers of all Danube countries endorsed the Danube Declaration which aims to strengthen the cooperation on sustainable water resource management in the region.

This two day annual conference, held by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, will address and challenge various multidisciplinary issues concerning the areas of the water and environment sector. The conference aims to inspire the water and environmental community by sharing knowledge and best practices with the objective to meet key global challenges.

This five day conference held by the International Association for Impact Assessment will focus on various sectors that have the potential for sustainable green investment such as agriculture, industry, tourism and transport with the aim of to establish investments for the transition to green economies. The IAIA10 believes that “impact assessments have the power to influence and shape green policy, which will in turn play a major role in addressing the global crises.”

The United Nations Development Program is looking for an international consultant in the field of biodiversity for a placement in Seychelles. The consultant will be primarily responsible for the establishment of a baseline data collection and a monitoring and evaluation plan for artisanal fishery on Praslin.